For those who came in late, Thought Bubble Studio (TBS Planet) was launched in May 2016 by the talented Rajeev Tamhankar. He then launched Ved (TBS Planet’s first comic book superhero) and subsequently followed it up with The Hands of Death (The Flying Jatt Movie tie in), Sagar (Aqua Man Varun’s debut story) and 13 Days (Horror themed graphic novel’s part 1). Shivaay is the fifth comic book to be published by TBS Planet and this will be followed by The Puppet Master (Ved’s second adventure) and the debut of Karma (a Bengaluru based super hero).

For the uninitiated, ‘Shivaay’ is the movie tie in of Bollywood actor Ajay Devgn’s film Shivaay (released on 28 October, 2016). Shivaay is a well trained athlete specialising in mountaineering. TBS Planet’s Tamhankar made a special pitch to Devgn and the result is this particular comic book.

One Line: Shivaay defeats prehistoric monsters and two evil scientists in North Pole.

Here’s the synopsis of the comic:

India Meteorological Department (IMD) wants to set up an Observation Centre in North Pole. They send two of their officers, Vishal and Vikrant. They reach North Pole with the trained mountaineer Shivaay to guide them. They encounter an odd looking crater which turns out to be the entrance of a secret ice cave.

Analysis: First and foremost, the team behind this series deserves a round of applause for trying something new in the Indian comic book market. Every alternative week, we hear or read another story about the shutting down of yet another comic book series / magazine. In this grim scenario, the efforts of Tamhankar must be supported and encouraged. Though not an ideal advertisement for Indian Comics as such, there has to be some kind of an attempt and hats off to Tamhankar for doing that brave attempt. As a subscriber for TBS Planet right from its first book, one can see the improvements in each and every aspect.

Still, the story and structuring of the book needs some urgent development. Fighting a prehistoric woolly rhinoceros requires a lot more than what is shown in the book, at least logically. However, knowing Tamhankar, he will leave no stone unturned in the betterment of TBS Planet’s comic series.

Movie tie in comic books are catching up in Indian market as well. However, the standard and benchmark for these is set by Maestro Saumin Suresh Patel with titles such as Anaganaga O Dheerudu(Walt Disney’s fantasy film tie in), Agent Vinod (Saif Ali Khan’s movie tie is) and the soon to be launched Baahubali part 2 movie tie in comic. TBS Planet’s Shivaay is definitely not in that category. But for Tamhankar and artist Satyajit Mondal, this is the right path. To be mentioned in the same paragraph which contains the Meastro Saumin Patel itself is a great beginning for this duo.

Final Point: Definitely an improvement from the earlier imprints of TBS Planet

Verdict: Read (3/6)

(These are purely personal views of Comics Historian & Writer, King Viswa and AnimationXpress.com does not necessarily subscribe to these views)